Hush

11

When I woke up there was a quiet clatering from down stairs. I frown though and lay there. Braden hadn't come in through the night, so he was definitely with whoever that guy is he's replacing me with. Anger Burns through me along with jealousy. I sit up slowly and hear footsteps coming up the stairs. A scowl steals my face and I throw myself back down, closing my eyes. The door opens and in walks Braden, plate in hand.

"Hey, Valen." He says quietly. I ignore him, pretending to sleep. Of course he knew I wasn't really sleeping. "Valen come on, tell me what's wrong." He says, setting the plate down on the desk and sitting in front of me on the small space left. I roll over away from him, curling up into a tight ball. He gave a sad and tired sigh. "Valen please I want to help you." He pleads, an annoyed tone to his voice.

He's getting tired of me. He won't want me for much longer. I am going to die soon and I know it.

"Just kill me. I know you're going to soon anyways. You aren't getting what you want and it's annoying you. I can hear it in your voice. I don't want to live anyways." I say suddenly, feeling the hurt, anger, jealousy, betrayal and everything I've felt over the past year slam into me, causing me to crumple in on myself.

"Valentine you know damn well that's not true." He says angrily, glaring at me as I scoffed.

"You know it is." I say and laugh, shaking my head. "I've gotten good at reading you over the year. The way your left eye twitches some when you lie and how your eyebrows arch a bit, your jaw clenches a small amount." I explain, surprising myself at how much I knew. Since when did I ever look that closely at him?

He sighed and looked down. "Valen I... I still love you. And I'm willing to wait forever for you. But... You make it so hard." He says, the tone in his voice making my heart clench.

"Braden... You know how I am." I say, crossing my arms. I felt a sudden urge to go to the bathroom and hide for a while again. He nods and sighed, running his hands through his hair.

He didn't want to admit he was getting sick of waiting. He wouldn't admit it no matter what, even when he kills me he still won't.

"Just...go to work." I say, making him nod. He'd called in a few days, this week because of me and my whole leg situation. He was worried I'd reinjured it a few times.

He nods and stands, leaving the room. I sigh and lay down again, covering my face with the pillow. I hear the front door shut after a minute then his car starts and takes off. I'd grown very familiar with that sound.

I hear footsteps coming up the stairs and groan, not wanting to deal with the new guest in the house. He just seems...like a dick. He was probably going to ask me if I'm fucking Braden and who I am and why I'm here. It's the only things that make sense.

And like I predicted the blonde walks in like he owns the place and sits on the foot of the bed. I peek my eyes open and lift the pillow enough to see him.

"What do you want?" I demand, none to kindly of course. He shrugs and runs a hand through his hair, trying to be cute. It's worse than I thought, he's going to flirt with me. Braden won't like his new toy messing with his old toy very much.

"I just wanted to talk being that we'll probably be seeing allot of each other in the next few weeks. Maybe months, depends on if I can get a house or apartment soon or not." He says simply. There was this underlying tone of 'or unless Braden let's me stay forever.' That I didn't like all too much. "So why are you here? He never told me he had someone living with him."

"My family was murdered and he took me in," I lie. Of course to me it wasn't a lie. To me they were dead. They didn't care so neither do I anymore. I don't want to see any of them ever again.

"Oh, that's so sad. I am so sorry that happened. So you and him aren't a thing? I thought you were." He says, relief spreading through him. I roll my eyes and sit up, hugging the pillow close. I shake my head and look at him dully.

"Nope we are not together. Never have been. You and him together or something?" I ask, a ball of worry growing inside me that they might be.

"Nah, of course not. He just kind of keeps me around for a good fuck whenever he's stressed." He says, shrugging. Everything I'd thought was true. I felt a, stab of pain and betrayal go through me and I just shrug as well.

"Well he isn't much the type to stick around in long relationships. I don't think he's ever been in one for real." I say and chuckle some, shaking my head.

He laughs in agreement, nodding before turning more to face me, crossing his legs under him and holding out his hand. "I'm Zach."

"I'm Christopher." I reply, shaking his outstretched hand with a smile. Seems like both of us were being used by Braden. But I guess that made sense, Braden was a kidnapper.

"So, I know you're going to think I'm just being dumb or something but you're cute." He says, his cheeks flushing some. Mine do the same and I glance away. I've never had someone,  especially a guy, flirt with me before. Hell I didn't even know it would effect me like this.

"Oh...I mean...I guess." I say sheepishly, making him chuckle. He moves closer again, but I don't move or anything, I'm fine with it. Human contact after so long of only speaking to Braden felt amazing.

"Oh, come on, you know you're adorable. What's your natural hair color?" He asks, reaching over and taking a strand of my hair between his fingers.

"Dark brown." I lie, watching his hand carefully. "It was ugly so I dye it allot.  It was green last month." I lie, running a hand through my hair, pulling the strands from his fingers in the process. He nodded and smiled.

He suddenly leans forward and plants a small kiss on my lips before standing and turning to leave. "Sorry, I had to. Maybe we could go out sometime in the future." He says, shocking me completely. All my brain could manage to do was make me nod as face face lit up a dark red. He walks out, shutting the door behind him. I lay down again and cover my face with the pillow, mind whirling.